“What’s she saying?” asked Laddie, who had found a hen’s nest in the hay and was wondering whether he had better take in the eggs or let them stay to be hatched into little chickens.  “What’s Norah want, Russ?  Have we got to come in?”

“She says come and get the thunder-and-lightning cake,” said Russ, who was listening at the barn door.

“And ice cream!  She said ice cream, too!” added Vi.  “I heard her!”

“Yes, I guess she did say ice cream,” admitted Russ.  “Come on!” and he set out on a run toward the house.

“Wait for me!  Wait for me!” begged Mun Bun, whose short legs could not go as fast as could those of Russ.

“I’ll wait for you, Mun,” said Rose kindly, and she turned back and took the little fellow’s hand.

“Maybe all the cream’ll melt if we don’t run,” said Mun, as he toddled along beside Rose.

“Oh, no, I guess not.  Norah will save some for us,” said the little girl, humming a song.

And Rose was right.  Norah made all the children sit down on the side porch, and she waited until Mun and Rose—­the last to arrive—­reached the place, before she dished out the cream.  Daddy and Mother Bunker were there, too, with their dishes, and so was Jerry Simms.

“This is better than bein’ in the army,” said the old soldier.

“Didn’t you ever have ice cream there?” asked Russ.

“Oh, once in a while.  But it wasn’t at all the kind Norah can make.  Sure she’s a wonder at ice cream!”

“And we’re going to have thunder-and-lightning cake, too!” added Rose.

“Well, I don’t know what kind that is, but it sounds good on a Fourth of July,” said Jerry with a laugh.  “I hope it doesn’t explode when I eat it, though, like a ham sandwich did once.”

“Did a ham sandwich explode?” asked Russ, who always liked to hear the old soldier tell army stories.

“Well, sort of,” answered Jerry.  “It was over in the Philippines.  I was eating my sandwich, and some of the soldiers were firing at the enemy, and the enemy was firing at us.  And a shell came pretty close to where I was sitting.  It went off with a bang, and a piece of the shell hit the sandwich I was just going to bite.”

“It’s a mercy the shell didn’t hit you,” said Mrs. Bunker.

“Part of it did—­my hand that held the meat and bread,” explained Jerry.  “But it’s good I wasn’t biting the sandwich at the time, or I might have lost my head.  However, here comes the thunder-and-lightning cake.  Now we can see what it is.”

Norah came out of the kitchen with two heaping plates, and, at the sight of them, the six little Bunkers said: 

“Oh!  Ah!  Oh!”

There were six “Ohs” and six “Ahs!” as you can imagine; one for each boy and girl.

“Is this thunder-and-lightning cake?” asked Russ.

“That’s what it is,” answered Norah.  “It’s the first time I’ve made it in a long while.  I hope you’ll like it.”